The birth of Kalihi Union Church (KUC) is closely tied to the history and growth of Honolulu. After the plague and fire that destroyed Chinatown in 1900, much of the population of Hawaiian, Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese, and Filipino people moved to the outskirts of Honolulu proper into Kalihi, then known as the “outer limits”. By that time, missionaries from America had already established many Christian churches in Hawaii. Horace Wright Chamberlain, a descendant of the Chamberlain family who came to Hawaii in 1820, saw the need to meet the physical and spiritual needs of these immigrant families and quickly worked to acquire property in Kalihi.

KUC became a member of the Evangelical Free Church of America in 1991. KUC is an integral part of the Kalihi community and ministers to a diverse ethnic population. KUC is a Bible-teaching and family-oriented church. It is a body of believers whose desire is to love God and glorify Him, proclaim Christ, establish other believers in their faith, properly equip believers to minister according to their spiritual gifts, and to multiply disciples both locally and around the world.